"Perry Rhodan 064 - Prisoner of Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

"First: why are their cameras so obvious? Second: why are there at least 8 or 10 cameras trained on us? Wouldn't one be enough?"
A few creases showed on Rous' forehead as he thought over the physicist's questions. He knew that the scientist would not ask any questions without good reasons for them. The answer was not very simple, either.
"Why the cameras were not sunk farther into the ship, I don't know. It would be hard to find a plausible answer for that. But to your 2nd question, I think I can find an explanation. Let's take an example: if I have 2 or 3 tape recorders I can stretch or condense music as I like. If a piece normally takes 3 minutes to play, its simple enough for me to convert it into an impulse of 3 seconds by recording it at a slow speed and playing it back at a fast. I could also stretch a 3 minute piece out to 3 hours and every single note would last for minutes."
"Great," said Steiner. "So what does that prove?"
"Transfer your acoustic experience into the realm of optics. The aliens want to see us. So what do they have to do? They're photographing us with their cameras, going simultaneously from one camera to another. The pace of events is slowed-and the aliens, who live 72,000 times more slowly than us can see us."
Steiner looked up at the unmoving ship standing just over them. "They can see us?" he murmured uncertainly. "Then we aren't safe here any longer. If they decide to do it, they'll kill us..."
How can they do that?"
"If they can slow events down enough to see them with their own eyes, then they can surely find some means of shooting at us fast enough to hit us."
Rous nodded slowly but gave no answer. Mute, he looked up at the small camera-ship floating motionless over a dead world.

* * * *

"They must not be allowed to live!"
"Why not?"
"Their influence is harmful to the fusion process of the time planes. If we leave them alive, they would remain aliens forever. They can't get back to their own dimension."
"How did they get into ours in the first place?"
The answer was not immediately forthcoming. Nothing had changed on the 10 differently paced videoscreens. The 6 men could be clearly made out. They looked upwards as though searching for something. Everything else had been frozen into immobility. On the horizon the lightning still stood in the sky, an awesome picture of time suddenly stopped in its tracks.
"We don't know but it's the 2nd time beings retaining their own time rate have come to us. That means a blow to our purposes. If a fusion is to take place, then the others must assume our time rate."
"But the other plane is stronger, larger..."
"But we aren't going to give up!"
Again there was a pause.
An order finally emerged from the command centre and it put to rest all thoughts of compromise.
The order read:
"Kill them...!"

* * * *

Ivan Ragov looked at the ship for some time, then said, bored: "What do I care about that? If it's going to land, it might take hours or even days. I'll be back by then."
"Back?" demanded Rous. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm going to take a look at the caterpillars-the Druufs, as you called them. Maybe I'll find the key."
"Don't go by yourself, Ragov. Andrщ Noir should go with you. Perhaps he might even be helpful to you."
Noir was not very enthusiastic but he realized that the scientist could not be left to run about the mountains alone. And it was clear that Ragov could not be swayed from his intention.
After it was agreed that any new development would be reported by radio to the others, the 2 men left.
Rous, Steiner, Harras and Josua remained behind.
They watched Ragov and Noir go, then turned their attention back to the alien ship.
Rous noticed it first. "It's moving, Steiner! Sideways! Slowly... but it's moving!"
Almost 5 minutes went by before the physicist lowered his head. "You're right, Lieutenant. To the left. I'd say at Mach 2 at most."
"A centimetre per second. Hmm... what does it mean?"
"Well have to wait and see. If we only knew where they were sending the pictures. Perhaps to a city, perhaps to another and larger ship."
"I have a feeling," said Harras slowly, "that it isn't a good idea for us to stand out in the middle of an open plain like this. The alien ship is above us. If they decide to do away with us they can do it before we have an opportunity to defend ourselves."
"Why should they want to kill us?"
"Reasons...? Wouldn't we lose too much time trying to figure out their reasons?"
"Harras is right, Lieutenant," Steiner said. "What do we know of the aliens existing in this dimension? Ragov wasn't so dumb, going into the mountains."
"If we hurry up we can still catch him and Noir," Rous said. He looked up. "The ship is speeding up."
Josua fingered the controls of his battle-suit nervously. Rous noticed it with raised eyebrows. But Steiner and Harras were following the African's example.
"You don't want to fly, do you?" asked Rous.
"What about making ourselves invisible? Up to now we've assumed the inhabitants of this alien time plane couldn't see us because we were too fast for their eyes. But if they've really discovered a method to make us visible..."
"Or the energy defence-screens!" Steiner's suggestion was even better than Harras'.
However, Josua shook his head. "No! We should fly away-into the mountains, into the caves!"
Rous knew that a speed of up to 3 meters a second was not dangerous at all. It was thanks to the composition of the atmosphere that this relatively great speed did not have any unfortunate effects. One would sense the beginnings of frictional heat but no more.